Common use of MONITORING OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION Clause in Contracts

MONITORING OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION. 1. The parties recognize that a substantial portion of any information (including e-mail and other communications and records of account usage) that is stored on a computer legally constitutes public records and is accessible as such to any person at any time. The Board and the Universities therefore agree to treat such information as confidential only if and to the extent that it does not constitute a public record, provided always that the Board and the Universities need not treat any information as confidential if the person whose confidential information it is (including any person to whom a communication has been transmitted) discloses it or otherwise disclaims its confidential nature. The Board and the Universities shall not, in an arbitrary manner, selectively record or monitor the information transmitted or stored by unit members. Nothing in this undertaking shall: a. constitute the Board or any University the guarantor of the privacy of any such information; b. prohibit a University from having access to such information in order, in accordance with an acceptable use policy, to (i) back up and maintain the functionality of its electronic communications systems, (ii) enforce any lawful prohibition against the use of such systems for personal or commercial purposes, (iii) prevent or investigate unauthorized access to such systems, (iv) enforce any requirements of law, and (v) enforce any software or other licensing agreements or copyrights; c. prohibit the University from having access to such information in order to comply with a subpoena lawfully issued and enforceable, to comply with a request for public records under the Public Records Act, or to comply with any like order or requirement of law; d. prohibit the University from installing “spam” filters, firewalls, virus detectors or any like software or equipment that limits the use of or access to its electronic communications systems; e. prohibit the University from monitoring and logging usage data on a routine basis, including network session connection times and end points, CPU and disk utilization for individual users, security audit trails, and network loading, pursuant to an acceptable use policy or as an incident of the troubleshooting, repair or maintenance of its electronic communications systems or the preservation or enhancement of their functionality; f. prohibit any person who is the lawful recipient of any electronic transmission or communication from making such disclosure of it as he/she chooses; or g. permit any member of the bargaining unit to alter any University’s electronic communications system (by altering, adding or deleting any software or equipment) or any University’s website or its associated links without the University’s prior written approval. 2. The provision of acceptable use policies shall not conflict with the provisions of this Agreement; in the event, therefore, that any provision of an acceptable use policy does conflict with any provision of this Agreement, the latter provision shall prevail. Nothing in the preceding sentence shall be deemed to limit or amend the preceding subsection of this Section D.